"House to probe overseas-contract plan"
"by Lara Jakes Jordan, Associated Press | March 8, 2008
WASHINGTON - House Democrats vowed yesterday to investigate why and how a multibillion-dollar overseas-contracting loophole was slipped into plans to crack down on fraud in taxpayer-funded projects.
The inquiry will look at whether a provision was added at the request of private firms, or their lobbyists, to exempt firms from having to report abuse in US contracts performed abroad.
"Granting this safe harbor for overseas contractors flies in the face of reason," Representative Peter Welch, Democrat of Vermont, wrote yesterday in a letter asking the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to investigate. The panel monitors government procurement policy.
"By taking this action, the Bush administration is sending an unambiguous message: If you are a US government contractor in Iraq, Afghanistan, or elsewhere overseas, you have a green light to defraud our government and waste taxpayer dollars," Welch wrote to Democratic leaders of the committee.
The United States has spent more than $102 billion over the past five years to help rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan.
And gotten NOTHING FOR IT!!!!!!
Those countries IN WORSE SHAPE!!!!
WHERE did ALL THAT MONEY GO?
In that time, the Justice Department has uncovered at least $14 million in contract bribes in those two nations alone....
The White House has declined to say whether the loophole, first reported last month by the Associated Press, will remain in the plans when they are finalized later this year. The government spends an estimated $350 billion a year on contracts.
Additionally, the Justice Department and the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction have asked that the loophole be eliminated before the rule becomes law later this year. Prosecutors so far have charged 44 people in investigations into kickbacks, bribes, and other abuses of taxpayer money in Iraq and Afghanistan....
Meanwhile, schools crumble, bridges collapse, cutbacks in social services everywhere, veterans sleeping on the streets, need I go on, 'murkn?
But, hey, the oil companies made $40 BILLION in profits!
How's that bowl of shit taste this morning?
For decades, contractors have been asked to report internal fraud or overpayment on government-funded projects. Compliance has been voluntary, and over the past 15 years, the number of company-reported fraud cases has declined steadily.
Pigs at the trough -- just about the time BILL CLINTON TOOK OFFICE, huh?
And you want War Contractor Candidate Hitlery back, 'murka?
Youse certifiable, nutties!!!!!!!!!
Facing the increased violations, prosecutors sought to force companies to notify the government if they find evidence of contract abuse of more than $5 million. Failure to comply could make a company ineligible for future government work.
But a later version of the rule, reviewed by the OMB and published in the Federal Register in November, specifically exempts "contracts to be performed outside the United States."
Oh, how I'd LOVE to be a WAR-PROFITEERING LOOTER!!
WAR PAYS, huh??!!!!!!!!
PEACE does not!!!!
